Smoke and Mirrors
by ABlurInTheWind
Summary: Valentine is back, but he doesn't appear to be after anyone's heart. After weeks of almost full time submersion in baths, the stench is gone. Valentine is now only at Monster High to finish the school year before he can transfer again. The ghouls planned to avoid him completely- until mysteries begin to surface around the vampire. Starting with things like him name.


**This is just another story for my soon to be steadily growing Valentine collection. If you haven't checked out my first one, please go read ****_You'll Be My Valentne_****. Most chapters in this will probably be related to my own headcanons and ideas seeing as there is not much information on Valentine. Each will also likely be told in a different monster's point of view each chapter.**

1: That's Not His Name?

Frankie wasn't sure when exactly she began to notice it. If it was a subconscious acknowledgement or if one day it just popped to the fore-front of her mind. Maybe it

was the day the had a substitute in Mr. Hack's class and the poor thing had been so over overwhelmed- fresh out of college- and had simply handed Frankie the attendance sheet and told her to go wild. Of course she was happy to help in anyway and went about her business flicking her mismatched eyes between the student roll and the present monster. Everything had been normal until she reached finely printed ink stating clearly: _K. Valentine_.

K? she had thought, eyebrows scrunching together in curious confusion. Since when was Valentine not the vampire's first name? And what could the K possibly stand for? Filing the information away for later Frankie marked Valentine present and handed the substitute back the clip board with a wide smile and assuring her that it was no problem when she thanked Frankie profusely. After making her way back to her seat she found her head in the clouds and unable to focus on the lesson; eyes drifting to Valentine on their own accord.

When the bell rang she leaped from her seat so fast she almost tripped over her chair and then her heels before rushing out the door to find her ghoulfriends and fill them in on her latest discovery. Spotting them at Draculaura's locker she threw a hand in the air to wave, "Hey, guys!"

Several of their heads turned and she got multiple forms of a greeting in return. Frankie skidded to a stop before them, bolts sparking as she flapped her hands, "You'll never guess what I just found out."

Clawdeen raised an eyebrow while Cleo looked unimpressed with the other girl's enthusiasm. Draculaura was the only one to grace Frankie with a verbal response, her eyes brightening at the possibility of gossip or a new secret, "What did you find out, Frankie?"

The ghoul practically vibrated in place as she spilled the news, "Did you know that Valentine's first name _isn't _Valentine?"

Not _that _got a reaction- from everyone. Gasps rang out through the group and soon eyes were looking to Draculaura, who had the most experience with Valentine out of them all.

"Did you know that, D?" Clawdeen questioned her best ghoulfriend.

The small vampire blinked her wide lilac eyes, eyebrows raised in shock, "I- no, actually. I didn't. Everyone at my old school just called him Valentine."

"Then we need to make it our personal mission to find out,"Frankie declared, making a small fist and pushing it into her other palm in determination.

Clawd blinked, hears dropping slightly in confusion and mouth twisting, "Couldn't you must, you know, ask him?"

Draculaura playfully swatted his jacket clad arm, "No, silly! What would be the fun in that? Come on ghouls, we can use our lunch period to start brainstorming."

The ghouls rushed off leaving a confused Clawd behind. Not minutes later were they congregated around a table in the diebrary, "Okay, Frankie," Draculaura clapped her small hands. "What does Valentine's first name begin with?"

"A 'K'," Frankie stated, already marching over to one of the computer to search names that began with the letter. The others followed suit and soon they were all hunched around the illuminated screen as Frankie's fingers tapped away.

_List of names that begin with 'K'_

Instantly a long list of names appeared for both ghouls and mansters. Frankie began reading names aloud, "Kyle, Keith, Kevin?" she listed off.

The others made faces, none of the names seemed to match Valentine's face or personality, so they shook their heads and told Frankie to keep reading the list.

"Kenneth, Keegan, Kurt, Kirk, Karl, Klaus?," she fired off as she kept scrolling. Again the other ghouls made faces.

After a good few hours of searching and trying names, and more than enough hand cramps to last Frankie a life time, she sighed in defeated frustration, "Maybe Clawd's right, maybe we should just ask Valentine."

Draculaura suddenly perked up, snapping her fingers and reaching for her iCoffin, "I've got it! i completely forgot that I still have Val's mother's number in here. We can call her real quick and find out." She wasted no time tapping in the seven digits and bringing the phone up to her pointed ear, the others leaning in close to try and hear what was being said.

Almost instantly the low, accented voice of Valentine's mother wafted through the speakers, gushing over how good it was to hear from Draculaura after all this time. The ghoul laughed and played along until she was finally able to get a word in, "Actually, ma'am, I was wondering something. Um, well, what's Valentine's first name?"

There was silence on the other end for a moment before the mother starting ranting, going on about how mannerless and impolite it was to not be on a first name basis with the ghoul she believe her son to be dating. She bitterly declared that, "When Kieran gets home, we're going to have a lovely talk about relationship goals." before promptly hanging up.

Draculaura blinked several times before deftly lowering the phone, "Kieran, she said. Valentine's first name is Kieran, whatever _that _means."

While Draculaura shrugged her shoulders Frankie typed in one last search ignoring the ache in her fingers. _What does Kieran translate to? _She jabbed the search button. Her two tones eyes widened, "Kieran means 'Dark or Black". His name translates to Dark Valentine or Black Valentine."

Cleo raised a perfect brow, "Well, how fitting."

The others nodded in agreement. Frankie didn't want to admit that she secretly thought that his name way wicked cool. They gathered their things, each reluctant to go home and receive lectures for missing their afternoon classes, and when Frankie turned to go down her hall way she knocked her shoulder abruptly with someone elses -what it felt like-stomach.

"O-oh my ghoul, I'm so sorry!" she looked up to see Valentine recovering his breath before looking down at her. Frankie could see the annoyance in those rose garnet eyes, but Valentine simply straightened up and brushed past her continuing down the call to the doors.

"'Course, doll, accidents happen," he through over his shoulder, accent twisting around the words in only the way a vampire's voice could.

Frankie blinked after him, before thinking that, yes- Kieran _did _fit the vampire.

**keeps your eyes out for the next chaper. Follow, favorite, and review if you enjoyed the first. :)**


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